Each month the WALGA Environment Team will feature an article on current issues or news relevant to the Local Government sector. This month, the focus is on the launch of the new WALGA Environment Platform.

The WALGA Environment Team is pleased to announce the launch of a new networking platform, the WALGA Environment Platform. The new platform aims to facilitate networking opportunities and improve collaboration within Local Government, whilst also sharing environmental events and resources relevant to the sector.

To read more on the capabilities or to access the platform, click here.

For any questions on using the platform or assisting in signing up, please contact the WALGA Environment Team.

WALGA is hosting a forum aimed at assisting Local Governments to develop strong, ongoing relationships with local Aboriginal communities as part of WALGA's 2019 WA Local Government Convention from Wednesday, 7 August to Friday, 9 August.

The forum will focus on meaningful engagement processes, Reconciliation Action Planning in Local Government, employment pathways, cultural interpretation and traditional land management practices.

There will also be an update on the South-West Native Title Settlement and identification of land for the Noongar Land Estate. The program will feature the fantastic collaborative projects being undertaken by Local Governments and their Aboriginal communities from across the State.

Local Governments are invited to submit a poster presentation for display at the forum, to showcase the work they are doing to deliver projects that support and involve Aboriginal communities.

For the full program (available early July) or to register, please visit WALGA’s website.

WALGA Emergency Management Engagement Workshop: Before - During - After

The Project will identify challenges and opportunities for Local Governments in how they respond to, and recover from, emergencies, and set a clear direction for WALGA’s representative, advocacy and capacity building activities into the future.

This workshop will provide an opportunity for Local Government representatives to inform the Before - During - After Project, by sharing information on their current awareness and activities in Emergency Management, and defining how WALGA can assist the sector before, during and after emergencies.

The session will run prior to the WALGA Local Government Convention, providing the potential for regional delegates travelling to Perth for the Convention to attend. Local Government Elected Members, CEOs and Officers are encouraged to attend.

Local Government Officers are invited to visit the WALGA Trade Exhibition and attend a free Breakfast event which will feature guest speaker – Australian Cricketer Brad Hogg.

The Trade Exhibition, held alongside the WALGA Convention at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from Thursday, 8 August to Friday, 9 August features suppliers offering a range of goods and services relevant to Local Government operations – entry is free to Local Government Officers.

Relax with coffee and a hot breakfast as Brad takes attendees on a journey of his life, the people who inspired him and his reflections on what the baggy green means to him and Australia.

Click here to view the flyer. Registration is essential for both events by Friday, 26 July.

For more information or to register, click here or email Marketing and Events Officer Anthea Astone.

Exploring 'The New Normal': Emergency Management in a Changing Climate

WALGA held a sell-out event on Wednesday, 12 June about the ‘new normal’ of catastrophic weather risks and the implications this has for Local Governments and others engaged in emergency management and planning.

There were 75 attendees representing a wide variety of organisations from State and Local Government, with a crossover of Officers involved in emergency management and sustainability/climate change backgrounds.

Andrew Sanders, Director, Risk, Capability and Analysis from the Department of Fire and Emergency Service opened the event with a detailed presentation about natural hazards in Western Australia and how climate change is affecting them. Andrew noted that "resilience is built from the bottom up", making Local Governments and community an essential part of planning for natural hazards.

Dr Robert Glasser, Visiting Fellow from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute was the keynote speaker and shared some sobering examples of how climate change causes cascading and often unpredictable effects on natural hazards. He suggested "we need a national narrative" to work together on these challenges.

WALGA hosted a Sustainability Officers Network Group (SONG) meeting in June, attended by over 20 Local Government staff from the sustainability, engineering and asset management areas

The meeting focused on progress towards energy efficient street lighting by Local Government and Western Power. Presentations from WALGA, Western Power and the City of Gosnells discussed the regulatory changes affecting the provision of street lighting services, and the LED product range available through WALGA’s Preferred Supplier Arrangement (for Local Government owned lights) and Western Power.

The schedule of tariff components for LEDs, and Western Power’s Streetlight LED lighting strategy were also discussed. Smart control of streetlights were also discussed, together with the opportunities this technology offers for gathering network information.

For more information, contact Melanie Davies, Biodiversity and Sustainability Officer on 9213 2065.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has released the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment Guidance for comment by the community and industry.

This consultation follows the withdrawal of the guidance issued in March after concerns were raised by the resources industry.

The EPA guidance has been developed within the context of new resource and energy proposals anticipated in the coming decade that are expected to add significantly to Western Australia’s (and, as a result, national) emissions. Local Governments wishing to make a submission direct to the EPA need to do so by Monday, 2 September.

WALGA is drafting a submission on the guidance, in line with the WALGA Climate Change Policy Statement and will circulate this with Local Governments for input in due course.

WALGA’s Infopage on the guidance is available here. Further information, including how to make a submission directly to the EPA can be found on the EPA website.

The State Government has strengthened measures to protect vulnerable and threatened native wildlife by declaring feral cats a pest animal in Western Australia.

The declaration will enable natural resource management and Recognised Biosecurity Groups (RBG's) to control feral cats and complement cat control efforts by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) within State reserves and areas of high conservation value.

Feral cat management programs implemented by RBG's can be funded by the Declared Pest Rate, matched by State Government funding.

The declaration does not cover domestic cats, which are covered under the Cat Act 2011. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's feral cat policy incorporates strategies to minimise the impact of feral cat control activities on domestic and stray cats.

The Map of Bush Fire Prone Areas 2019 (the Map) comes into effect on Saturday 1 June 2019 and will be available from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) website on the afternoon of Friday, 31 May.

This edition will identify both ‘new’ bush fire prone areas and those ‘continuing’ from earlier editions of the Map. All designated bush fire prone areas will be coloured pink on the Map, with the newly designated areas further highlighted by a blue cross-hatched overlay.

The 2019 bush fire prone areas datasets will also be available to download from the data.wa.gov.au website.

Should you have any queries regarding this advice, please contact the Office at obrm@dfes.wa.gov.au or call (08) 6551 4095.

The City of Cockburn is the first Council in WA to have two of its roads paved with recycled waste.

An asphalt product called Reconophalt made from 40,000 plastic bags, 900 toner cartridges, 210kg of rubber tyre crumb and seven tonnes of recycled asphalt has been used to pave 750sqm at Cecilia and Skerne Lanes in Port Coogee. The paving was installed by Densford Civil on 5 June with materials supplied by the Downer Group.

Beyond the environmental benefits, Reconophalt lasts longer, with a 65 per cent improvement in fatigue life compared with standard asphalt.

The trial is an example of how Local Government and the private sector can collaborate and innovate with new environmentally friendly methods

It’s all been happening out at Lake Monjingup Reserve in Esperance with the new boardwalk now complete and ready for use, winding between the bull-rushes and sensitive Paperbark wetlands.

With winter coming and the lake levels rising, visitors will soon be able to walk over the water, connecting to nature trails that showcase the phenomenal regeneration of Australian bushland after fire.

It has also been designed to be all inclusive, and is wide enough to allow for two prams or wheelchairs to pass.

Wongutha Christian Aboriginal Parent-directed School students have also been extremely busy in the past few months at Lake Monjingup – removing over 2500 seedlings of the weed, Victorian Tea Tree. It has been a huge push to remove the Victorian Tea Tree before it flowers and sets seed after bushfire.

On Tuesday, 28 May the Shire of Augusta Margaret River, allied with the community as represented by the ‘Climate Action Augusta Margaret River’ group, hosted a one-day Climate Action Summit.

The summit attracted more than 130 attendees, representing all facets of the community including youth, all manner of community groups, local and state politicians and subject matter experts.

The summit was held in partnership with Surfing WA and the World Surf League, who provided the site for the event which overlooks Margaret River’s iconic ‘surfers point’ break.

The Summit’s focus was on ‘climate change mitigation’, with a second summit planned for 2020 dealing with climate change adaptation.The purpose of the Summit was to raise awareness regarding the climate change realities for our community and to arrive at a consensus regarding appropriate actions, which can be taken at the local level (the Climate Action Plan).

A video link to a snapshot of the Climate Action Summit can be found here.

For more information, contact the Shire of Augusta Margaret River Sustainability Planning Officer, Jared Drummond on (08) 9780 5268.

Town of Mosman Park residents didn't waste the opportunity to recycle right at the free Problem Waste Drop-Off Day on the 8th June 2019.

The event, which was a joint initiative between the Western Metropolitan Regional Council (WMRC) and Town of Mosman Park, was very successful!

Despite the chilly winter weather, over 84 cars were recorded attending Jabe Dodd carpark with their problem waste. Of those, over 58% were Mosman Park residents. 28% were residents from other member councils.

Residents dropped off cardboard, e-waste, batteries, aerosols and textiles to be appropriately recycled.

Over 1000 cans were also dropped off for a 10c rebate per can as a promotion for the upcoming Container Deposit Scheme, due to be rolled out in 2020.

The annual conference is currently calling for abstracts, field trip hosts and sponsorship opportunities from interested stakeholders.

The highly regarded WA event will focus on maximising networking opportunities with an interactive program, including workshops, tours, engaging conference sessions and open space sessions this year, running over 4 days in early October.

Those interested in contributing to the conference are currently being called to submit abstracts here by Friday, 21 June. If you would like to show off your patch and what your organisation has been up to, express your interest to host a field trip here. And finally, if you would like to support the conference through sponsorship, click here.

For more information on the program or any of the above opportunities, click here.

Groundwater is a crucial part of the water cycle and our natural environment, and will feature in a new joint marketing education campaign with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation to raise awareness of its importance.

Groundwater is a shared resource used by Local Governments and schools to keep parks and ovals green, farmers to grow local produce and businesses to manufacture local goods and services.

Almost 70 per cent of all the water used in Perth comes from groundwater.

Average rainfall in Perth has declined by 15 per cent since mid-1970 due to climate change and this has had an impact on Perth’s groundwater.

We all use groundwater, so we all have a role to play in using it wisely.

WALGA has many environment related resources available to assist you with operational and policy issues. To find out more, visit the Environment page of the WALGA website or contact the Environment team at WALGA.

These resources include the WALGA Environmental Planning Tool, a mapping product that has been specifically designed to meet the needs of Local Governments. The EPT has a large range of data relevant to land use, infrastructure and environmental planning. It has the capability to enable the inclusion of local data and unique reporting functions linked to statutory process requirements.